Sword Oratoria: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side Volume 5

This hole really was not only a luring trap but an
ensnaring prison, too.

Their only choice, then, was to attack it directly—the
magic stone hidden somewhere within its chest.

But the problem with that is…
…whether or not she could dodge the incoming tentacles
long enough to pull off a spell.
Even if she used Concurrent Casting, the bit of focus she
had to devote to the chant itself severely lowered her
reaction and response time, to the point where no amount
of reading into the enemy’s movements was going to stop
her from being sliced to pieces by those whips.
The closed-in space with limited room to escape didn’t
help matters any, either.
And that wasn’t even getting into the fact that nine times
out of ten, these vibrantly colored monsters tended to
respond to magic. The instant she started casting her spell,
the incoming attacks that had been, until now, divided
evenly between Bell and her would all be focused straight
on her.
While she would have liked to coordinate something
together with Bell, she wasn’t about to hold her breath with
such a hastily formed dyad as theirs. And even she wasn’t
about to do something as cruel as force a Level-2 third-tier
to act as a wall for her against this kind of enemy.
No, she’d simply have to do it on her own.
Bracing herself, she began preparing for her chant.
“”
It was then that it happened.
The relentless wave of attacks coming at them simply—
paused.
Lefiya and Bell both stopped short, looking up at the
motionless creature with identical expressions of
incredulity.
Its giant eye was still rolling about, back and forth
between the two of them.

Upside down and hanging from the ceiling, it gazed upon
its nimble prey.

Then.
The crown-like organ around its head began to glow a
brilliant blue.
“Huh—?!” Bell’s confusion escaped his lips as Lefiya
found herself unable to move.
Something bad was about to happen. Something very
bad. But this realization came too late.
From the glowing blue crown encircling its eye came a
devastating wave of high-frequency sound.
“Huuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh
!!”
The noise was deafening, splitting their eardrums, and
all Lefiya and Bell could do was scream as their eyes nearly
popped free of their sockets.
““ Gnh!!””
It was a monster cry, similar to those of bad bats and
sirens and capable of restricting adventurers’ movements.
Only this cry was incredible, stronger and fiercer than
the cry of any ordinary monster.
The shriek had enough destructive force to rob even
upper-class adventurers of consciousness, rendering Lefiya
and Bell incapable of movement in less than an instant.
They fell to their knees with sloshy thuds, the
otherworldly cry robbing them of all balance.
!!
The creature didn’t miss its chance.
Its two tentacles, primed and ready, went screeching
toward its prey.
“”
Their target: Bell.
The world hazy around them, Lefiya’s breath stopped in
her throat as Bell froze before the imminent attack.
A Level 2 up against what could easily be considered a
Level 4.

A direct hit meant certain death.
A one-hit kill.
Lefiya screamed.
“Run!!”
And Bell did, his body ready to put his emergency
evasive maneuvers to the test. But it was too late.
The two tentacles streaked toward him, slicing through
the air in an instant, and as the boy kicked off the ground,
his foot came in contact with one of the armaments that
had been sticking out of the acid, sending it flying.
—A shield!
A parting gift from one of the adventurers consumed by
the creature, the large silver shield somersaulted through
the air, Lefiya’s eyes widening as its path sent it directly in
front of the oncoming tentacles.
A second later…
…an earth-shattering noise shook the world around
them, almost like an explosion going off, and Bell’s body
was launched away like a bullet.
“Gaggghh!”
He zoomed through the air.
The phenomenal impact of the tentacles with the shield
sent him careering into the walls of flesh.
The collision reopened the wound on his head in a spray
of red-hot blood. His body peeled away from the wall,
plunging into the pool of acid with a splash.
He stayed there, motionless, white steam rising from his
frame as the acid ate away at his skin.
……
The deafening cry coming from the trap monster’s crown
fizzled into nothingness.
Then, one of its tentacles extended like a long spear,
shooting straight toward the boy to land the final blow.
However—
“ Unleashed beam of light, limbs of the holy tree!!”
—Lefiya was ready.

In an attempt to thwart the attack, she wove her spell.

The magic circle formed beneath her feet, proudly

announcing her presence, golden light rising from the

acid’s surface with a rippling shudder.

The reaction was immediate. The tentacle shooting

toward Bell veered sharply in its trajectory.

Rolling its entire body over, the trap monster changed its

target. This time, it was pointed straight at Lefiya.

“You are the master archer!”

!!

Lefiya took off at a dash, her voice soaring as she fled

the rampaging set of tentacles.

It was the most desperate Concurrent Casting she’d ever

performed—controlling her web of magic as she flew

through the confined space of the hole, all the while

continuing her song.

“Loose your arrows, fairy archers—!”

The whips rushed at her, cutting through the air, the

rushes of wind in their wake slashing at her battle clothes.

Even as her feet moved at a frenzied clip, she never took

her eyes away from the creature’s single eye. She used

everything Filvis had taught her—to throw aside her

defenses, to continue even as her body was battered—

simply dodging everything she could as she read into the

enemy’s movements and continued her chant.

Her insides were boiling hot as if to fuel her mad rush,

sweat pouring down her forehead and all across her skin.

!

As she clutched her staff, as she wove her spell, as she

dodged attack after attack by naught but a hair’s breadth,

the trap monster moved its head.

Then that same light, that terrifying blue light, erupted

from its crown.

“Huuuuuaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggghhhhh !!”

“Gnngh—pierce, arrow of accuracy!!”

Lefiya raised her voice, face distorting as she competed

with the incoming wave of high-frequency sound.

Just as she completed the spell, however, the tentacle

she thought she’d evaded changed its course, curling like a

snake and latching onto her left wrist.

“Oh n—!!”

Suddenly she was up in the air, hanging by her left arm,

before getting forcefully bashed against the wall.

“Guuuuhhh!!”

The air was knocked out of her.

Chant interrupted, the magic circle disappeared from

beneath her feet.

The trap monster’s other tentacle was quick to descend,

mercilessly shrieking toward her as she continued to hang

helplessly in the air.

Ah—

The color drained from her face at the sight of the

cyclops’s whip filling her vision.

In that moment, her mind flashed back to a gold and

silver gleam—her golden-haired, golden-eyed

swordswoman, when Aiz had rescued her from those

carnivorous flowers.

But in the next moment…

“—Yooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuu bastaaaaaaaaaaaard!!”

…a white shadow raced toward her…
“Huh?!”
…before slamming itself into the tentacle on its collision
course with Lefiya’s body.
The white shadow—Bell—swung the great ax in his
hands with every drop of strength he had left in him and
brought it down on the massive whip.
The blade struck with a jarring jolt.
?!
Impact sending it off course, the rushing tentacle missed

Lefiya’s body by a mere celch’s width.
Lefiya held her breath, shocked by the fact that she was

still alive, as she felt the shock waves from the point-blank
attack. Bell touched ground for only a moment before
leaping back up with his ax flying.

He sank the blade into the thick tentacle curled around
Lefiya’s wrist, blood gushing from the wound as he severed
it whole.

“…Y-you…”
Free from the creature’s grasp and having fallen to the
pit’s floor, Lefiya looked up at the boy standing before her.
His back was to her, as though he was placing himself
between the enemy and her.
A thin white mist rose from his body as the acid
continued to eat at his skin, the large mythril ax, a
nameless weapon of dwarven use, clenched tightly in his
hands.
Blood from the wound on his head stained his back and
shoulders, but even still, his eyes never left the creature
staring down at them from above.
!!
A creature that appeared very angry now, its one eye
bloodshot and glowering as its severed tentacle squirmed
like a decapitated snake.
The glow returned to its crown. This time it was going in
for the kill.
NOT good! Lefiya’s heart screamed at her as the
monster howled anew.
Bell, however, wasn’t about to let it happen. Raising his
right arm—
“Firebolt!!”
—he fired his own blast.
Scarlet tendrils of lightning—no, of fire—shot forth from
his hand.
For just a moment, time seemed to stop. As Lefiya
watched, the blinding-fast bolt of sparkling flames shot

toward the creature, shattering its crown of light before it
even had a chance to unleash its cry.

“ Gngh?!”
Again and again the fiery tendrils hit, nine in total.
Every single one of them was a direct hit, completely
disintegrating the trap monster’s crown.
The crown exploded in a flurry of sparks, abruptly
halting its high-pitched scream.
He…he didn’t even have to chant?!
Lefiya couldn’t believe her eyes. She’d never seen such a
thing, never even heard of such a thing.
A chant-less, instant spell.
And not only that, but he could fire them one after
another.

Is this some kind of joke?! she almost found herself
screaming, in complete disbelief as a mage.

“Miss Lefiya! Your spell!!” Bell howled in between
haggard breaths.

Lefiya shook herself from her daze, head snapping up to
see that vibrantly colored creature right above her, flames
raking its body in a fiery inferno.

Its crown continued to blaze, but even through its
anguished cries, its one great eye was still pointed at Lefiya
and Bell. It was enraged.

Bell readied himself as the trap monster’s fury swelled in
tangible waves around them.

His own magic might not have been powerful enough to
defeat that thing, but he was going to protect Lefiya and
give her all the time it took for her to pull off her own spell.
That much was clear from his stance.

Even if his fingers were crushed beneath their shield,
even if his body was rent limb from limb, he was going to
keep swinging that ax, and he was going to protect her.

“I…I hate you…”
It happened without warning.
The words simply fell from her mouth.

How could he be so cool?
How could he cheat with magic like that?
How could he monopolize Aiz, have her waiting on him,
completely ignorant of his own place?!
And yet.
“And yet…I believe in you.”
He was an adventurer.
And she—she was a mage.
She had faith in those rubellite eyes gazing at her from
over his shoulder.
“—I’m ready.”
Raising her staff, Forest’s Teardrop, she called forth a
giant magic circle beneath her feet.
“ Gnnh!!”
The trap monster responded immediately and started
moving toward Lefiya, drawn in by the colossal source of
magic.
Their last stand had begun.
The boy with his ax and the girl with her song.
“Unleashed beam of light, limbs of the holy tree.”
The moment Lefiya took off running, chant on her lips,
the two tentacles gave chase.
Bell, however, quickly closed in on the elephantine
whips, reading the enemy’s movements and leaping
forward to bash them from the side as they came in for
their attack.
He gave it everything he had, gritting his teeth as he
chopped away, feet never faltering.
“You are the master archer.”
The trap monster had made one grave mistake.
No, perhaps mistake wasn’t the proper word, for it had
only allowed an innate weakness to be exposed.
Its tendency to react immediately to any and all magic
no matter the circumstances.
Had the creature thought to focus its efforts on Bell,
currently barely hanging on for dear life, rather than Lefiya

and her chanting, the battle would have been over before it
started. And once her human shield, Bell, was gone, Lefiya
would be quick to follow.

By acting as a decoy as she cast her spell, however, she
allowed Bell plenty of time to execute his skills in complete
safety.

It was the same defensive method the Sword Princess
had hammered into her—that she should deflect the
enemy’s attacks to the side.

Though Bell couldn’t hope to take that creature head-on,
what with their difference in potential, he could sneak in
some attacks so long as Lefiya distracted its tentacles.
Again and again he gave chase, using his lightning-fast feet
and mighty ax to forcibly direct the tentacles’ path away
from the mage.

It was a feat made possible only by both his evasive skills
and Lefiya’s Concurrent Casting.

There in that hole in the earth, the labors and toils of
those two adventurers both trained by the same girl came
together and bore fruit.

“Loose your arrows, fairy archers—!”
The words came between the relentless attacks.
As she neared the end of her chant, her magic power
rising sharply, the trap monster increased its efforts,
throwing everything it had at the mage to stop her song.
But Bell held it back, ax flying as he kept the two flailing
tentacles in check.
“Gnnngh!”
He launched himself at the swinging tendril. Though his
attack came from the side, the shock was still enough to
send his body flying, mythril ax drawing an arc across the
air as it sailed away.
Still, however, he had managed to protect her.
The strike that had previously been heading straight
toward Lefiya instead grazed her long golden hair, colliding
with the fleshy wall behind her.

As the world shook with a ferocious tremor around her,
Lefiya’s voice rose to meet the cacophony head-on.

“—Pierce, arrow of accuracy!”
The chant was complete.
In the center of that great hole, directly below the trap
monster, Lefiya thrust her staff to the sky.
And in that moment, the red world around them shone a
brilliant, vivid gold.
She cried out the name of the spell, magic circle
overtaking the entirety of the hole.

“Arcs Ray!!”

There was a burst of light.
Then the gleaming flash shot straight upward at a
blinding speed.
The trap monster attempted to flee, withdrawing its
tentacles and wedging itself into the passage above, but it
was no use.
Its fate was sealed.
The phenomenal Mind built up within that single blast
tore through its tentacles before landing a direct hit on the
creature’s main body.
“ Gguuwwwwaahhh!!”
Its lower half, partially assimilated into the wall itself,
writhed and squirmed like a snake as the blinding flash
propelled its body upward.
Then, it collided with the lid of the hole, still closed tight
above them, with an absolutely deafening crash.
The pillar of light, however, was brought to a screeching
halt.
“It stopped the attack?!”
The creature’s upper half remained with the stubs of its
arms outstretched. The hole’s red lid was worn down from
the incoming magic light but still very much intact. That

thing had absorbed the brunt of the attack, keeping it from
bursting through the top of the pitfall.

Lefiya was shocked at what she was seeing.
A strangely colored monster above their heads and its
two-part body, each with its own separate function.
An “adventurer’s prison” keeping them trapped.
The lengths it took to keep their sole way out from being
opened.
And the specialized magic resistance it took to do so—
Her thoughts ran wild at the attributes the creature
must have possessed—attributes that made it every bit the
“trap monster” it was.
But Lefiya didn’t care. Lefiya didn’t care one single bit,
her eyes flashing with a determined gleam.
It was a competition between monster and magic—
erupting with light.
The creature’s greenish-yellow skin curled and burned
as it absorbed the incoming magic, its scream of anguish
swallowed up by the roar of her light blast. The magic
stone at the tip of her Forest’s Teardrop glowed with a
brilliant pale blue, infusing her spell with more and more of
her Mind.
As Lefiya increased her output, injecting everything she
had into that beam of energy, the giant charred eye of the
beast turned toward her in incensed fury.
Not more than an instant later, the entire hole roared.
“Wha—?!”
The walls of flesh began to swell.
Like tumors, almost, one after another, giant lumps
began to billow out from the pink surface with a ghastly
bubbling hiss, closing in on Lefiya from all four sides. They
pushed the pool of acid with them, the liquid forming a
wave that yanked and swirled at her feet.
—It aims to crush us?!
Knowing its own demise was only a matter of time, it had
decided to take them down with it—by setting loose its own

body.
It would destroy itself, and the hole around them,

crushing them in the process.
Lefiya’s body grew hot. Blazingly hot. All the magic

power she’d accumulated inside her in her attempt to blast
the creature (and the lid) out of the way was now, all of a
sudden, getting forced back onto her as the thing overhead
let out a crazed roar of cataclysmic obliteration.

The walls quickly swallowed up the carcasses of the
other adventurers around them.

Lefiya’s features contorted into something
unrecognizable.

When suddenly…
Ching ching.
“—Huh?”
…an entirely out-of-place chime tickled her eardrums.
Unable to resist, she turned around, only to see the boy,
wounds and all, rising to his feet.
His right hand glowed with a pale-white light, building
and building as he summoned the particles to him.
“…Gngh!”
He was limping toward her, dragging his battered body
as he waded through the pool of acid, already up to his
knees.
He didn’t stop until he was right next to her. Lefiya was
still directing her magic skyward even through her shock,
and then he extended his hand, glowing white ball joining
her staff, still raised high.
“I’ll…join you…!” He gritted his teeth, left hand coming
up to support his wrist.
His cannon was primed and ready, and Lefiya’s eyes
widened before she turned her gaze upward.
Together with the boy, she directed a glare of death at
the enemy overhead—We’re not going down here!—before
calling forth her magic power with everything she had.
Her light gleamed brighter.

Before being joined by the pure-white brilliance of the
boy’s collected particles.

A bell chimed.
Then, twenty seconds later, he pulled the trigger.

“Firebolt!!”

The brilliant white light burst from his hand.
“”
The massive, crackling fire tore through the white
particles.
Above them, the trap monster’s body went white, bathed
in the radiance of this second attack.
And this time, as the two gleams overlapped, as the fiery
lightning tore into the creature’s body, the imprisoning lid
of the hole overhead shattered.
The trap monster dissolved into the blinding flash,
leaving no trace behind.
“Gnh!!”
As the monster’s agonizing death cry melded noiselessly
into the din, the pillar of lightning shot all the way up
toward the sky.
It blasted through the crust of the earth, through the
roof of trees, filling Lefiya’s eyes with the breathtaking
view of the crystalline night sky overhead. The path had
been opened.
At the same time, the sheet of rock that made up the
Dungeon’s floor convulsed with a mighty jolt as it began to
collapse without the monster that had been parasitizing it.





Lefiya picked up the spent boy’s body from the ground,
bent her knees as far as they would bend, then leaped out
of the hole.

Her Level-3 leg strength propelling her up the great
height, she sprang off the falling rocks to send her the rest
of the way, escaping back into the Under Resort above.

“What the hell was that—?!”
“Is that magic?!”
The two Amazons shouted as all of Loki Familia sprang

to its feet.
The sudden beacon of light that shot out of the forest

quickly drew the attention of everyone on the eighteenth
floor.

The single column of radiant light was visible from the
great tree in the center of the plains, from Rivira on its
island in the lake, and even from Loki Familia’s camp.

The group was just finishing up their dinner when the
spectacle unfolded, Tiona’s and Tione’s shouts leading
them to leap into the trees for a better view.

As the brilliant white flash of entangled beams struck the
crystal-coated ceiling, the resulting explosion sent the
monsters below it into a frenzy. The cacophonous array of
frightened squawks echoed all throughout the eighteenth
floor.

“It came from the forest…to the east? What’s over
there?” Tione murmured beneath her breath.

“You don’t think it could be Lefiya…do you?” Tiona posed
as her eyes scanned the scene from above. She saw Finn
and the other elites emerge from their tent, eyes narrowing
at the giant column of light; she saw Loki Familia’s lower-
level members bustling and clamoring; and she even saw
Hestia and the others in her group, dumbfounded as to

what was going on, but nowhere in all that commotion did
she see Lefiya.

And certainly, that kind of magic power did seem
compatible with the elven mage.

In fact, she was the first person who came to mind,
especially given how they hadn’t seen her since she’d run
off chasing that white-haired boy not too long ago.

“Ngh!”
All these thoughts flying around her mind, Aiz suddenly
took off, dashing from the camp without warning.
“Huh? Aiz!!”
But Tiona’s voice fell on deaf ears. The swordswoman
was already well out of sight.
The pillar of light had faded. In its place, giant chunks of
crystal fell from the ceiling like glimmering blue rain.
It was toward the source of that crystal rain that Aiz ran
—her sword at the ready.

Smoke billowed upward in great, heavy clouds.
Deep within that mighty forest, it looked almost as

though lightning had struck.
Many of the crystal pillars that had made up the stone

circle were cracked or toppled to the side, evidence of the
terrific shock that had shaken the earth around them.
Directly above the scene, hidden by the forest’s mesh of
trees and branches, a giant round hole had formed in the
ceiling, one crystalline chunk after another dropping to the
ground below and shattering like glass.

“Haah…haah…Hey, are you all right?!”
“…Y-yeah…”
They were pressed shoulder to shoulder, breath haggard
as the blue-crystal snow fell down around them.
Having barely escaped with their lives, they were now

kneeling down in the grass a short distance from the
collapsed hole. Though both appeared considerably worse
for wear, the boy’s body was more visibly fatigued than
Lefiya’s, the mage still having some fight left in her despite
her ragged breathing.

That final attack had seemingly consumed the last of
Bell’s strength, and his wounds were many—the reopened
gash on the back of his head, as well as the burns all over
his skin from its exposure to the acid. In fact, the only part
of him not charred was his salamander-wool linens, still
remarkably unscathed.

Lefiya had left her pouch of potions back at camp—an
apparent lapse of judgment on her part—so she had no
choice but to simply hoist the boy up by his shoulder and
attempt to drag him away.

“What’s going on here?!”
It was then that the voice called out from behind her.
She turned around with a start, only to see a pair of men
racing out of the forest toward her from the direction of the
Dungeon’s easternmost wall. They wore large robes, head
protectors adorning their foreheads, and hoods covering
the better part of their faces. It was the very same Evils
associates Lefiya and Bell had been trailing before they’d
gotten into this mess.
As they caught sight of Lefiya and Bell in the middle of
the crumbling Crystal Grove, their surprise was evident.
“Thousand Elf? Then you’re…Loki Familia?!”
“You defeated Venenthes?!”
It didn’t take more than a single look for them to
ascertain the situation—that the two adventurers had
followed them, fallen into their trap, and then taken down
the trap monster waiting for them inside.
Their surprise turned quickly to irritation, scowls
tangible even from within their heavy robes.
“Damn you…! Quickly! Release the violas!” the more
emphatic of the two shouted, and his partner dived into the

nearby brush.
The situation could not have gotten any worse. Someone

somewhere was laughing at them. Even Bell had tensed
next to her. The dire turn their escape had taken was
obvious.

As if on cue, one greenish tentacle after another began
poking itself out of the surrounding greenery, crawling
toward them fast.

“Hngh…?!”
Lefiya heard the metallic sound of first one cage, then
another, then another being opened, and soon, she and Bell
were completely surrounded. Their faces paled at the circle
of carnivorous flowers caging them in.
There were so many of them. Ten, at least.
They lifted their great crooked necks, tentacles writhing
and squirming like snakes and effectively cutting off their
every escape route.
“This is where you die, adventurer scum!” shouted the
robed figures as they quickly vacated the premises to keep
from getting caught up in the mix. The moment they left,
the violas opened their buds in sync, revealing their
vibrantly colored petals and ghastly jaws.
Heaping gobs of saliva dripped from their fangs onto the
scattered bits of crystal littering the grass below.
“Gnngh…?!”
Lefiya was already well past spent from their earlier
fight against the trap monster, and she still had Bell to
worry about. The boy was scarcely able to move next to her.
The situation was truly dire, to the point where her own
life was starting to flash before her eyes.
If she could just get Bell away from here. Somehow. She
was the one who’d gotten him mixed up in this, after all.
She made the decision right then and there that she
wasn’t going to go down quietly.
As the ring of man-eating flowers slowly closed in on her,
liable to pounce at a moment’s notice, she tightened her

grip on her beloved staff, still holding Bell aloft to her side.
“—Uuuuuuoooooooooooowwwwwwaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!”
One of the flowers roared, preparing to launch itself

upon them.
Until a sudden whirling storm howled its way onto the

battlefield.
“Gwwuooogh?!”
“—What?!”
The flower was cut off mid-leap, quickly mowed down by

the gale and flying sideways into the surrounding flowers.
One thunderous boom after another shook the environs.

Lefiya and Bell could only look on in stupefied wonder, still
primed and ready for their own attacks, as this new
assailant landed on the ground in front of them.

—Miss Aiz?
But no, the figure that appeared before them was not
Lefiya’s beloved swordswoman—but a long-caped figure,
fabric rustling in the storm’s wake.
“I thought I heard something…Are these the new
species?”
The figure wore lightweight battle clothes, a long
wooden sword readied in their right hand.
Their face was completely obscured within the deep
recesses of their hood.
As this lone adventurer stood with their back to them,
protecting them from the bright green threat, Lefiya’s
pupils dilated in surprise.
Lefiya was sure she’d seen this person before. Last
night. Among those in the rescue party—
“—The masked…adventurer?”
Her lips parted with the words just as Bell, next to her,
spoke up with a raspy voice.
“Miss Lyu…”
Their reinforcement, who’d dashed in gallantly to save
them, now stood facing the swarm of carnivorous flowers
head-on, an impenetrable fortress.

She flourished her wooden sword, the same one that had
sent the mighty creatures flying only moments earlier, with
a warrior’s will.

“Don’t move, elf. Stay there with Mister Cranell.” The
voice that called out to her was authoritative, awe-
inspiring, and Lefiya quickly nodded.

“O-okay!”
No sooner had the words left her lips than the wind
picked up with a sudden whoosh.
The figure was gone in an instant, kicking off the ground
with an audible slash that cut through the grass—the
flower that had been in front of her bucked.
With that single wooden sword, she sent the colossal
beast flying, the same as she had earlier. Lefiya didn’t even
have time to act surprised. The masked adventurer drew a
giant circle with her sword that uprooted every single one
of the flowers in her immediate surroundings. The resulting
crystal-clear sheeeen rang in her ears.
The throng of abominable flowers that had been pressing
in on Lefiya and Bell from all sides was launched away in
one fell swoop.
So…so fast!!
Lefiya found herself rooted to the spot as she watched
the figure dance like a hurricane. Even Lefiya’s Level-3
vision wasn’t enough to keep up with her. The flowers, too,
were at a loss, squealing in agony as the figure slipped
deftly through the swarm of countless flying tentacles and
landed another direct hit. They crashed into the crystal
pillars still scattered about the area, their large bodies
taking beating after beating against the hard rock.
It was so fast. So intense. Both Lefiya and Bell found
themselves at a loss for words.
“This…this is…”
As did the two Evils associates.
Watching the battle play out from their spot a short
distance away, they could only bite their tongues in

astonishment at the unprecedented one-sided battle taking
place before them.

“…These things.”
Again and again the masked adventurer slammed the
flowers with everything she had, but no matter how many
times they flew backward, they’d just give angered roars
and pick themselves up, charging at her for another round.
Even through the minimal contact her sword made with
their skin, she could tell it was tough—infuriatingly so. And
no matter how much power she put behind her attacks, she
couldn’t seem to make a mark in that thick layer of skin. A
look of admiration crossed her face.
Lefiya was quick to notice. “S-simply hitting those things
won’t do anything! You have to cut them!” she shouted,
offering the only advice she could give. And then,
fascinated by the adventurer’s sheer speed and intensity,
reminiscent of the Sword Princess, as well as the elven ears
beneath her rescuer’s hood, she tossed out one more
suggestion. “Magic works, too!”
The effects were immediate.
The adventurer pulled out a small tachi, using it to cut
through the flowers’ tentacles, then narrowed her clear
blue eyes—beginning her chant.
“—Distant sky above the forest. Limitless stars set into
an eternal night.”
She was Concurrent Casting.
Lefiya’s eyes widened as wide as they would go.
The high-level magic power quickly drew the attention of
all ten violas. They came at her all at once in a storm of
roars and tentacles. But she parried every one of them,
cutting them down, flinging them back, continuing her mad
dash, never once letting her sonorous voice falter as it
continued its song.
“Listen to my feeble voice and grant the protection of
starlight. Bestow the light of mercy upon those who have
abandoned you.”

Attack, move, evade, chant. Together with her defensive
maneuvers, which made for five different actions, each of
them carried out with the utmost of celerity. Which was the
most impressive part of all—that despite the chant, her
astounding speed never slowed in the slightest.

The shock Lefiya felt was immeasurable.
The first person she could think of who even came close
to this level of skill as a magic swordswoman was Filvis.
But even Filvis’s spells were short, not more than a single
phrase, and quite unlike the long chant this girl was
performing now. Even despite the lack of a magic circle,
Lefiya could tell she was planning something big—a high-
powered blast that would take everything out.
There was a difference when it came to Concurrent
Casters and magic swordsmen.
Mostly in the form of the level of magic they could
produce, something that mostly came down to the presence
of a magic circle.
Concurrent Casters lived in the advanced or mid-guard,
and their magic was their sole weapon. Magic swordsmen,
on the other hand, were fighters specialized in magic to the
point where they could take on a number of mages’ abilities
and command the front lines single-handedly. Mages like
Lefiya and Riveria both belonged to the former group—
back-line mages who’d learned the art of Concurrent
Casting, making them mobile fortresses.
All of this meant that, strictly speaking, the adventurer
in front of her now was not a magic swordswoman.
In fact, she was another entity entirely, different from
those like Lefiya who lived on the back lines—an elven
warrior.
Then…then that would make her even stronger than
Miss Filvis. Th-than Lady Riveria even…!!
The precision of the masked adventurer’s Concurrent
Casting was far more exact, far speedier, and far less risky
than that of a pure back-line mage such as Riveria.

And yet, no. It was simply that this elf was more used to
this sort of chanting.

There was no telling how many times she’d practiced.
While on the front line with no one to protect her, her
song the only path to victory, she flourished her sword as
she sang her omnipotent melody.
“Come, wind of winds, wandering traveler of the ages.”
While so much of this elf reminded Lefiya of Aiz, there
was still one outstanding difference between them.
The difference of sheer magic firepower, the ability to
annihilate all enemies in a single instant, rather than
simply taking them on one by one in hand-to-hand combat.
The scale of the magic she was casting now, the length of
the chant she rattled off like nothing, was entirely unsuited
for use in the advanced guard and could easily rival the
magic of any upper-class mage.
It was almost as though someone had taken Lefiya and
Aiz and merged them together to make a mobile fortress
specialized in pure speed.
“Across the skies, through the fields, faster than any,
farther than all.”
Lefiya found herself at a complete and total loss for
words. Truly, even a first-tier adventurer would find
themselves taken aback by the Concurrent Casting taking
place here. The elven warrior was single-handedly
gathering the entire swarm of enemies together in front of
her as if it was nothing.
In fact, even Bell was beyond impressed, not a single
hitch in her song as her dance of storms continued.
“Light of stardust, tear my enemies asunder!”
And like that, the spell was complete.
With those final words, the masked adventurer jumped
backward, putting distance between the flowers and
herself.
Pointing her wooden sword at the giant swarm, she
began summoning hundreds of thousands of massive light

particles, all of them surrounding her, all of them heeding
her call.

“Luminous Wind!!”
The stardust erupted in a brilliant green storm.
It was an image not unlike one of Lefiya’s own spells,
Fusillade Fallarica—a mass collection of particles all
launched at once, incinerating everything along their wide
path.
The teeming throng of man-eating flowers still coming at
the girl was quick to get swallowed up by the burst of light.
“ Guuuwaaaah?!”
One explosion. Then another. Then ten, twenty, thirty, too
many to count.
It was a direct hit. The searing volley carved into their
bodies and detonated with a brilliant flash and an explosion
of petals and tentacles. Not even their vibrantly colored
magic stones survived the blast, shattering instantly and
turning the monsters’ flesh to ash.
The horrific ground-shaking eruption, the mountain of
piled-up corpses, the gallons of smoke rising from the ashes
—Lefiya and Bell had to hold on to each other for support
as their faces twitched in horror.
“…Perhaps that was a bit too much,” the girl responsible
for the carnage murmured almost ironically as she scanned
the surrounding trees.





Her sky-blue eyes narrowed in on where the two hidden
Evils associates were frantically attempting to make their
escape.

It would seem they were all out of tricks. The battle,
then, had come to an end.

Cape still fluttering, the girl sheathed her small wooden
sword and tachi.

Then, her long boots whistling through the grass, she
made her way straight toward Lefiya and Bell.

“Ah! Th-thank you so much for saving us…I, uh…You
are…?”

“Later. You both need medical assistance first.” The girl
responded to her kin’s openmouthed stupor after only a
quick glance at both of their conditions. While Bell
obviously needed help, Lefiya, too, sported a number of
nasty-looking cuts and bruises.

The adventurer immediately went to work healing them
both.

She sat Bell down first. The boy didn’t fight it, letting
himself drop to the grass, though keeping his mouth
strangely quiet, almost as though unsure whether or not he
should say the girl’s name out loud with Lefiya present.

“I, erm…”
“You shouldn’t move, Mister Cranell,” the girl advised,
getting down on one knee before raising her right hand
toward the boy’s face.
“Distant song above the forest. Nostalgic melody of life.”
It was a different chant this time.
“Impart your healing upon those who seek your grace.”
Identical looks of disbelief crossed Lefiya’s and Bell’s
faces.
“Noah Heal.”
A healing spell, just as they’d expected.
Soft, mottled light, almost like the sun through the trees,
washed over Bell’s body, closing up the deep wound on his
head, as well as the cuts littering his face.

The warm light radiating from her palm healed his every
scratch, his every bruise, his every acid burn, one after
another.

“You…you can use healing magic, too…?” Bell asked, still
in awe.

“Yes. Though its use is limited, as it cannot rival potions
in its potency,” she explained.

It was true—the Mind she was consuming now, as well as
its effect, was considerably less than the attack magic she’d
cast earlier, and nowhere near that of a healer’s.

Lefiya, herself, couldn’t help but feel a bit insecure, both
as an adventurer and as a fellow magic-wielding elf. This
jack-of-all-trades put her and her single-minded attack
magic to shame. Even still, once the girl was finished with
Bell, Lefiya didn’t hesitate to allow the same to be done to
her.

Soon, both adventurers were free from injury, and their
melted, charred skin was as good as new.

Once he’d been given a bit of magic potion to complete
the treatment, Bell got to his feet with a wobble, still
slightly light-headed.

Lefiya, too, followed suit, fully prepared to ask the
adventurer all the questions she’d wanted to earlier.
However—

“—Well then, Mister Cranell…While I don’t know exactly
what happened here, I can’t say that I’m not disappointed.”
The elf shot him a look of reproach.

“Oh…” Bell mumbled, wincing at the stern glare directed
at him from under the other girl’s hood.

“If memory serves me correctly, I delivered you safely
back to camp not more than a few hours ago, yes? When
you were running around lost in the forest.”

“I…I’m sorry…!!”
“I had hoped you would have learned how dangerous the
forest is at night,” she continued, lecturing him now on the
perils of wandering around the forest alone. Bell, in turn,

let his head hang with a shrug, looking very much like a
young boy being scolded by an older neighborhood kid.

A single glance was all it took to understand their
relationship.

“W-wait! Please!”
But then.
Lefiya quickly interjected.
“It’s my fault. Everything…everything is my fault! I was
the one who…who dragged him into this mess!”
“…”
“He’s done nothing wrong, so…so please, my sister.
Don’t misunderstand,” she continued, looking straight past
Bell in his surprise to meet the gaze of her kin. And then,
despite considerable hesitation, despite her struggle to say
it: “…He. He saved me,” she finished, the words ringing
clear and true.
It went without saying that she was at fault for involving
him in her investigation of the two Evils associates, and if it
hadn’t been for Bell, she wasn’t even sure she’d have
escaped from that trap monster with her life.
As much as she didn’t want to admit it, he’d saved her…
and she was thankful for his protection.
Holding back her urge to grit her teeth, she admitted her
own fault—and appealed on his behalf.
It was quiet for a moment as the masked adventurer
simply listened in silence.
Then a small “Heh” sounded beneath the other
adventurer’s hood, and Lefiya could imagine her smile.
“You don’t know how happy it makes me to meet another
elf like you,” she responded, voice filled with delight. The
ability to lay down one’s pride and admit one’s own faults
was something decidedly un-elven, after all.
Lefiya felt her cheeks grow warm at the sincere praise.
After a moment, the other girl turned toward Bell, lightly
nodding.
“I apologize, then, Mister Cranell, for it appears I spoke

too soon.”
“N-no, it’s, uh…I-I mean, it’s still partly my fault…” Bell

brought a hand to the back of his head sheepishly at the
adventurer’s apology.

Lefiya, on the other hand, while relieved that the
misunderstanding had been cleared up…couldn’t help but
notice that the other girl’s voice, the way she held herself…
it all looked very familiar. In fact, she could have sworn
she’d seen someone with that same exact disposition and
build at a certain bar back in Orario—a thought that
wouldn’t seem to let her go, almost like a small bone that
had gotten itself lodged in her throat and refused to go
down.

Just as it was really starting to drive her crazy, she heard
a sudden swish of branches from behind her—and a certain
golden-haired, golden-eyed swordswoman dropped down
from the trees above.

“Lefiya!”
“Miss Aiz?!” Lefiya whirled around in surprise at the
other girl’s entrance.
Aiz’s gaze softened with relief at seeing both Lefiya and
Bell unharmed, her eyes flicking immediately toward the
masked adventurer.
“Sword Princess…” the girl murmured, hiding her face
within her deep hood.
Kicking up and off the grass, she dropped back a few
paces as Lefiya and Bell both gave a start.
“I assume you’ll be fine now. I’ve other things to attend
to, so I’ll take my leave here. If you’ll excuse me,” she
finished, before disappearing in the opposite direction from
which Aiz was approaching.
Lefiya, Bell, and Aiz all watched in silence as she
vanished into the forest.
“Are you two…all right? Something…happened, didn’t
it?” Aiz finally asked, concern tinting her voice as she
surveyed the two in front of her.

“Indeed,” Lefiya started, fully prepared to explain the
eye-opening experience, when suddenly—

“Riveria! Over here!”
“Little Argonaut’s here, too!”
—two Amazonian voices called out as Tione and Tiona
dropped onto the ground nearby, the same as Aiz had done
moments earlier. The three elites now gathered, Lefiya
began to relay everything that had happened, as well as
her conjectures—though only after they were out of Bell’s
earshot, of course.
By the time Riveria showed up, she’d already finished
her story, Aiz, Tiona, and Tione all sporting curious
expressions as they mulled over the situation in their
minds.
“…Thanks for filling us in. Riveria and the rest of us will
stay here and investigate a bit. Aiz, you take these two back
to camp for now.”
“But…but Miss Tione, I—?!” Lefiya started, feeling very
much as though she, having witnessed everything directly,
should be part of the investigation.
Tione, however, stopped her short. “You’re to do as
you’re told, Lefiya. Besides, you’re the only one capable of
explaining the situation to everyone back at camp. Right,
Riveria?”
“Quite right. Depending on how things play out, Finn
may need to rally the rest of the party. The faster we can fill
him in, the better,” Riveria concurred, making her way
toward the group with long silver staff in hand.
“Oh…” Lefiya let her voice fall, knowing she’d been
soundly beaten.
Tiona beamed at the elf, her own Urga primed and ready
in her arms. “You guys look beat! Get some rest, yeah? No
need to push yourselves!” And then, “Little Argonaut
especially.”
Surprised, Lefiya turned around to see Bell standing a
short distance away. While his wounds had been fully

healed, he looked, indeed, just as tired as Tiona had
suggested. The final blow, so to speak, that neither healing
magic nor potions could mend, was the fatigue left over
from battle—a fatigue now peeking through the strong
front he was attempting to maintain.

To up and leave him now, after being the one to get him
into this mess, would simply be cruel—not from a
perspective of reasonableness but simply from her as an
elf.

A feeling of awkwardness creeping up under her collar,
she obediently nodded. “…All right.”

“Take care of them, Aiz,” Riveria said as she handed Aiz
her portable magic-stone lantern.

“Of course.”
Then, Tiona and the others throwing them a wave, they
said their short good-byes and began the trek back to
camp.
“…You’re sure you’re all right?” Aiz asked once the three
had made it a short way into the dark woods, worry
coloring her voice.
“Ah-ha-ha…I-I’m fine! Really. Already got healed and
everything, yeah?” Bell forced a laugh, his energy nothing
but a facade as he let his gaze wander down by his feet.
“But your shoes, they’re…awful…” Aiz shone the lantern
in the direction of said boots, so ragged at this point that
they scarcely resembled foot attire.
In fact, both Lefiya’s and Bell’s battle clothes were
littered with rips and holes where the acid had melted them
away, but their shoes were, by far, the worst victims, having
been submerged so long in the acid. Until the masked
adventurer’s ministrations, the skin beneath them, too, had
been equally as torn up, but now they simply looked as
though a great many moths had eaten away at them.
“I have a set of greaves back at camp…” Bell murmured.
Lefiya shot him a sidelong glance before asserting
herself none too subtly. “I’ll give you a new pair of boots

once we get back. If I’m unable to find any, I’ll buy you
some from Rivira.”

“R-really? I-I mean…are you sure?”
“Of course I am,” she replied equally as bluntly as he
whirled around to look at her. “Don’t…don’t misunderstand
me. I simply…feel as though I need to make up for
involving you in this entire affair. That’s it!” She hissed the
last part through gritted teeth.
Bell blinked once, twice, then gave her a somewhat
awkward, somewhat sheepish grin.
Lefiya, in turn, jerked her head away with a harrumph,
attempting to disguise her own embarrassment.
“…”
Aiz stared at them in silence, jaw slack.
“You two…are getting along now?”
“What?!” Lefiya practically screamed, whirling around.
“Y-you have it all wrong, Miss Aiz! Truly! T-to think
something like that would ever happen in the history of the
entire world would…would…!”
“Ha-ha-ha…” Bell laughed, a smile rising to his face.
“Yooooooooooooooou! Stop that right now! Tell her! Tell
Miss Aiz that she is utterly incorrect in her assumption!!”
“Yep, you’re getting along now…”
“No, it’s—Miss Aiz! Listen to
meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!”
But Lefiya could only wail in vain as Bell feigned
laughter at her beloved swordswoman’s entirely off-base
observation, the swordswoman herself nodding in her own
self-directed affirmation.
Far up above them, the crystalline night sky glittered as
it watched over their return.
 





INTERLUDE

FLIP SIDE OF THE STAGE

The crystals growing from the Dungeon floor glimmered
with a hazy, surreal blue glow.

Deep, deep in the forest, they shed their light at the
floor’s easternmost tip.

And from within those mighty crystals, towering among
the trees, a cry of anguish reverberated against their
glistening surfaces.

There were two of them, gasping for breath. Above
them, a figure stood with small tachi unsheathed, shrouded
in darkness as their long cape fluttered in a nonexistent
breeze.

Blood dripped from the silver blade’s gleaming edge.
“Now then, there are a few things I’d like to ask the both
of you,” the adventurer began in a low voice, her face
hidden deep within her hood as she looked down upon the
two figures on the ground.
The two men were currently lying crumpled at her feet.
It was the same two Evils associates who had sicced the
swarm of violas on Lefiya and Bell earlier.
The young human and elf, now laid bare of their
forehead protectors and hoods, trembled with fear as the
cerulean eyes of the masked adventurer cut into them with
an icy glare.
“Were you the ones who released that monster here?
And if so, what are you trying to attain?” The girl’s voice
was cold, calculating, entirely unbefitting the adventurer
who’d only a short while ago been healing her fellow elf
and white-haired companion.

Bright-red splatters of blood dotted the surrounding
greenery. Her weapon had cut them down to the bone,
slicing through muscle and sinew and rendering them
incapable of movement.

She’d gone after them the moment she’d left Lefiya and
Bell, mostly due to her concern regarding the new monster
species she’d fought earlier but also due to the twinge of
doubt she just couldn’t shake off.

This grand forest was like her playground, after all.
She knew where the white flowers grew, flowers she
offered to the graves of her fallen comrades. She even
knew where the wild fruit grew. She knew the forest so
well, in fact, that the moment she’d given chase after the
two men below her, their fate had already been sealed.
“Gwahh…!” the man on the ground groaned, his robes
wide open to reveal the countless crimson pellets lining his
body—firestones, to be used for his own self-destruction.
Neither one of them had been granted poison capsules in
their teeth. Even if they were to attempt to cut their own
lives short, the only way out was fire—otherwise, the
hieroglyphics on their backs, the Falna that would reveal
both their true names and the name of their patron deity,
could be revealed with a Status Thief.
Knowing all this, the masked adventurer made no
attempt to stuff their mouths.
She held their lives—and their deaths—firmly in the grip
of her hand, words callous as they hissed between her
teeth. “I’ve seen these…self-immolation tools of yours
before.” Her eyes narrowed, voice lowering further still.
“They stole the lives of one of my comrades,” she spit out.
“You’re survivors of that…familia, then? The ‘Evils,’ as they
call themselves?”
The air ran thick with her hatred.
Down on the ground, the two men could do nothing but
tremble, the elf’s pure, unadulterated contempt pressing
down on them from all sides.

They cowered like frightened rats, sweat pouring off
them in rivers, and the thickset human, at least, seemed to
have lost control of his bowels.

“If you don’t start talking, I’ll have to defile those backs
of yours. And if I find you’re colluding with some kind of
nefarious deity, I’ll have no choice but to wipe you off the
face of this earth.”

“P-please, no! I-I’m begging you!!” the human suddenly
screamed, no longer able to hold it in. He desperately
attempted to put distance between himself and the demon
in elf’s clothing staring murderously down at him, but she
quickly put a stop to his retreat.

The male elf, on the other hand…simply watched his
companion struggle and writhe with a tight-lipped laugh.

“Ha-ha…ha-ha-ha…”
“Is something funny?”
“Y-your eyes. I can tell from your eyes. You seek
revenge…and you won’t stop until you’ve achieved it.”
Another laugh. “You’re just like me.”
It was a laugh of scorn. Of pity. And as the masked
adventurer looked down at the elf and his derisive gaze,
her eyes narrowed to slits.
“Nameless kin of mine, do you not, too, wish to lay your
eyes once more upon those whom you’ve loved…those
whom you’ve lost to the cruel reality of death?”
“You cannot bring back the dead.”
“And yet such a meeting exists within the realms of
possibility.”
“What are you talking about?”
The elf continued to laugh, his gleeful snickering
forming a network of creases in the girl’s brow. His human
companion, on the other hand, remained crouched in
terror, staring at the elf with a look of sheer disbelief.
Perhaps he took pity on her—an elf like himself, with a
similar history. Whatever the reason, he continued in a
tremulous whisper as he spoke of the unspeakable.

“Swear your allegiance to our master. Then you, too,
shall—”

Suddenly—
—a brilliant flash of silver light shot toward them from
straight overhead.
In a show of breathtaking quickness, the masked
adventurer leaped out of the way, dodging the attack meant
for her. The same could not be said for the two men,
however, the knives plunging deep into their necks.
“Ghu…ah…?”
“Wha?”
The girl’s eyes widened as blood sprayed from their lips.
One after another, the dark projectiles came hurtling
through the air. Quickly distancing herself from the two
men, she waited and watched for the second wave that was
sure to come.
She watched for a further moment as blood gurgled out
from the fresh holes in the men’s necks—they wouldn’t be
telling her anything else, that was for sure—then checked
behind her to see the source of the incoming blades.
Her eyes caught sight of a hooded purplish-blue robe
among the rustling upper branches.
But she couldn’t identify its owner, a strangely patterned
mask obscuring the figure’s face.
“Evils scum…Nothing but incompetent fools keen on
making nuisances of themselves.”
The voice from beneath its mask was spine-tingingly
disquieting, almost as though multiple people were
speaking at the same time.
One metal-gloved hand disappeared into the robes
before reemerging with a brilliant red magic sword.
“—”
All of a sudden, time slowed down to a crawl.
The figure’s sword moved. It was so fast, she could
barely see it let alone react to it.
The glowing ball of flames it launched swallowed up the

two Evils associates, dying breaths and all.
“Gnngh—?!”
She leaped back just in time, cape fluttering, before the

resulting explosion lit up the sky.
The fireball had set off the firestones lining the two

men’s robes.
Barely managing to escape the blast zone, she stood

back and scrutinized the scene of carnage in front of her.
The gouged earth; the blazing grasses; and the charred,
shredded bodies of the two men in its midst. All around her,
the nauseating stench of burned flesh saturated the air.

She looked toward the branches above, but the masked
figure was already gone.

“…”
So much for getting any information. Her one source had
been effectively snuffed out.
They got me good, she thought with frustration.
A sigh passing her lips, she quickly scanned the
perimeter. Fortunately, the massive crystals surrounding
the area were keeping the flames fairly well contained,
stopping the fire from spreading farther into the forest. She
made her way toward the center of the blast, smoke and
embers whirling around her.
It would be of no use to search the men’s bodies. The
firestones had done their job well—one could barely tell the
flaming remains were even human. Various body parts lay
strewn about, crackling and smoking and entirely
unrecognizable.
With one last pitying glance, she prepared to make
herself scarce.
“…?”
Until a sudden glint stopped her in her tracks.
Walking over to a nearby bit of brush, she stooped down
to pick up the source of the tiny light.
“What’s this…?”
It had belonged to the two men, no doubt. Though that

would mean it was considerably resilient. Had it been
tossed over here during the explosion?

Bits of it were, indeed, charred, but its general shape
and structure remained intact.

It was an ingot of human construction, big enough to
rest comfortably in her palm.

A strange red orb, like an eye, almost, was inlaid within
its body, and what appeared to be a letter D had been
carved into its surface, resembling neither Koine script nor
the hieroglyphics of the gods.

“…Some kind of magic item?” she murmured to herself,
voice heavy with doubt.

Then, tucking the stone away inside her robes, she
disappeared into the night.

“We couldn’t find anything, Lefiya.”
Finn spoke as the white crystalline light of “morning”

shone down across the eighteenth floor. Most of Loki
Familia’s members were scouring the forest in search of
clues when he approached the young mage, his words
earning him a look of bewilderment.

“But that’s…”
It had been less than twenty-four hours since their battle
in that pit.
Upon Lefiya’s relay of the events, Finn had ordered a
large-scale search of the eastern part of the forest. He’d
had faith in her theory—that the two Evils associates must
have been protecting something, hiding something, if it
justified going so far as to install that trap monster, the
“Guardian of the Forest.”
And yet, the results were just as Finn had said.
No matter how much they combed the massive forest in

increasingly larger circles, they discovered absolutely
nothing—not a stone out of place nor a trace of
questionable goings-on.

Lefiya, now recovered after a night’s rest, could only
look out across the surrounding forest and at her weary
companions in confusion.

“B-but…but Captain, we…we truly did fight for our lives
against that brightly colored monster!”

“I’m not saying that I don’t believe you. I actually believe
your theory is correct. You don’t need to produce the hole
itself for you to persuade me,” the prum commander
responded as he surveyed the ground in front of them,
where traces of Lefiya’s and Bell’s magic scarred the land.
The mess made it look almost as if the very stone itself had
split and crumbled.

All around them, large pieces of crystal lay scattered
about, broken off from their toppled pillars. Already,
however, new crystal columns were poking out of the
ground to take their place, the stone circle regenerating
itself. It would seem the Dungeon’s restorative properties
were especially swift in this region.

Finn narrowed his pool-like green eyes, long Durandal
spear in hand. “There was something here…and perhaps it
yet remains.”

“…”
“If it’s the latter, however, it’s not anything we’ll be able
to find as we are now.” Finn gave his thumb a lick,
muttering in self-assurance. “Regardless, it wouldn’t do us
any good to continue our search. That’s my guess, anyway.”
“Then we’re just going to…?”
“Yes, it’s time we put this place behind us. Gareth and
the others back at camp will undoubtedly have finished
packing, as well.”
Riveria, Gareth, Aiz, and the rest of the party were
currently back at the base camp, readying the group for
their return to the surface.

Everyone was tired. There had been far too many
incidents already on this expedition, and they weren’t
about to miss their day of departure.

It was crucial that they meet with Loki and relay
everything they’d learned.

Lefiya had no choice but to hold her tongue at Finn’s
decision.

“Still, I can’t deny the very distinct stench permeating
this place. We’ll be back to investigate again once we’ve
gotten everything in order.”

“…Understood, sir…”
“Then we head out. Raul! Let’s bring it in! Call everyone
back!”
“Roger that!”
The scattered members of the search party began to
make their way back toward Finn.
Lefiya could only stare at the remains of the hole where
she’d fought the trap monster, staff gripped tightly in her
hands.
Knowing nothing of the masked adventurer’s meeting
with the two Evils associates, Loki Familia left the eastern
edge of the forest behind them.
 
 





EPILOGUE

HOMEWARD BOUND

“What the hell is all this about that rabbit brat bein’ here,
huh? Why does no one tell me anything?!”

“’Cause we knew you’d throw a fit, just like you’re doin’
now! Come on, already! Get ready to go!”

“I’ll show you a fit, you stupid Amazon!”
The day had finally arrived for Loki Familia’s expedition
party to return to the surface.
And the camp was already abuzz with morning activity.
Everyone was preparing for the departure. All around
Aiz, her companions were folding up their tents and
packing everything away in large cargo bins for easy
transport. It had been in the midst of all this bustling
activity that Bete had first been made aware of Bell’s
presence in the camp, a fact he didn’t take to calmly, and
about which he was currently interrogating Tiona and
Tione.
Indeed, given the werewolf’s recent trip up to the
surface, everything that had happened with Bell would
come as a great surprise. Even last night, when Bete had
finally returned, he’d been too tired to even notice the
additional guests they’d picked up, having gone straight
into the nearest tent and promptly passed out.
Tiona and Tione had known all too well what effect the
news would have on Bete, so they’d done what they always
did and simply told him nothing.
“Hey! Aiz! Is it true? About the rabbit brat?” Bete turned
toward Aiz, clearly not trusting anything the two
Amazonian sisters might have told him, as a very obvious

vein started to bulge atop his forehead.
“It’s…true, yes,” she responded frankly, nodding.
“The hell!” Bete stuck out his tongue in disgust…before

slowly clamping his mouth shut.
All of a sudden, a very strange, awkward silence washed

over him.
Aiz cocked her head to the side in confusion before Bete

leaned forward, his voice no more than a hissed whisper.
“Th-then…then is it true?”
“Is what true…?”
“You know. That! That, uh…you know…about him peekin’

in on all you girls durin’ a bath!”
And here the Sword Princess Protection Unit had sworn

everyone to secrecy! The normally impassive Aiz felt a flush
rise to her cheeks as her eyes widened in surprise.

Her gaze dropped to her feet as she began rubbing her
hands together, the same way she had last night, before
finally, not saying a word, she nodded. There was no way to
hide her embarrassment.

Bete stopped short in shock upon the confirmation of his
fears.

“That…that bastard! So easily accomplishing what I
never could!” His entire body trembled with unadulterated
rage at the (albeit misunderstood) image in his head.

“…Aiz.”
Just as Aiz was about to explain that Hermes had lured
Bell in, Bete pulled an about-face, suddenly impossible to
read, almost as though his earlier outburst had never
happened.
His amber eyes stared at her with a kind of wild glint.
“If he made it here…to the middle levels…then that
means he’s a Level Two now?”
Aiz nodded a second time.
“That bastard…” Bete repeated with a curse. “Where is
he, huh?”
“…”

It was the question she’d been dreading.
Aiz’s expression hardened—looking not altogether
dissimilar to her normal expression—as her mouth clamped
shut.
Where was Bell? In his tent, no doubt. She’d seen him
and Hestia slip inside there not more than a short while
ago.
But Aiz wasn’t about to tell Bete this. In fact, Aiz was
hoping to keep Bell and Bete from meeting altogether.
It had happened almost two weeks ago now—on the first
day of their expedition. They’d been winding through the
seventh floor when, for whatever reason, Aiz had incurred
the greatest shock of all time—the realization that the goal
Bell aspired to might be none other than Bete. Even now,
she hadn’t quite been able to shake away this thought. And
though she’d had many chances to ask him about it now,
she’d gotten cold feet every time.
What if it was true, and it was actually Bete who was
spurring the boy on?
—Mister Bete! All of this has been for you! I’d do
anything for you to accept me!
—Haaah? You really think I give a rat’s ass about any of
that?!
The scene played out in Aiz’s mind like some kind of
romantic comedy, glittering eyes and all.
…She didn’t like that.
No, she didn’t like it one single bit.
In fact, Little Aiz inside her was currently balled up with
her arms around her knees as she pouted in silence.
She didn’t want to see that. It was far too heartrending.
Which was why, in that moment, Aiz simply decided to
play dumb.
“………………Over there somewhere,” she responded in
what could only be referred to as a bald-faced lie, avoiding
eye contact with Bete as she pointed in the completely
wrong direction.

“Over here, huh?” Bete repeated to himself as he took off
in said direction, clearly ready to pick a bone with
someone.

It pained Aiz greatly to lie, but even despite the guilt
tugging at the back of her mind, she’d have done the same
thing over again if given the choice. Come to think of it,
even Bete’s typical name for the boy had leveled up—no
longer “tomato brat” but “rabbit brat.” Yes, she’d done the
right thing, she thought to herself, gulping inwardly.

“…Hey. I need to fix up my friends’ weapons. Gimme a
whetstone and some tools, would ya?”

“Hmph! Is that how you talk to someone when you’re
askin’ for a favor, Welfy?”

“…Could I please…borrow some tools?”